Organic Crime: The Raw Milk Underground

The Brooklyn Paper is reporting (sort of) on their aborted attempt to infiltrate Brooklyn’s raw milk underground. Why underground? Because it’s illegal to transport raw milk across state lines with intent to sell it for human consumption. Why?

An FDA report on illnesses caused by raw milk over the last five years says there have been 18 “outbreaks” of bacterial illness involving raw milk or raw milk cheeses in 15 states. Those outbreaks have sickened 451 people, a few of those seriously enough to be hospitalized. The report lists types of bacteria that might be found in raw milk, including campylobacter, escherichia, listeria, salmonella, yersina and brucella. It also lists diseases raw milk products can cause, such as tuberculosis, diphtheria, polio, strep throat, scarlet fever and typhoid fever.

But don’t let that dissuade you, the Brooklyn Papers would be informant, “Deep Milk”, maintains that the pasteurization process kills a bunch of the healthy stuff along with the horrible diseases. Heaven forbid.

Sadly, just as the paper was about to pull back the curtain on the seedy (but well-nourished) milk underground “Deep Milk” got cold feet:

“I am really sorry for wasting your time,” she said, claiming she got orders from the top. “But we can’t help you anymore at the risk of the government finding out, so the story can’t run at all.”

The Earth Fare (local, gourmet and health food store) sells “raw milk” cheese. I keep wondering what the difference is, or whether it’s any better. Whoever does their pricing certainly seems to think so; it costs about twice as much as regular cheese.

It’s not illegal to consume raw milk. It’s only illegal to buy or sell it for human consumption. You can legally buy raw milk for non-human-consumption purposes (e.g. pet food). If you own the cow, you can drink all the raw milk from it that you care to.

As I understand it (from family members who grew up on farms), raw milk is supposed to be tastier and healthier for you than pasteurized milk. It’s only “dirty” if the person doesn’t clean their cows/utensils/items-involved-in-the-process. In other words: it’s only “dirty” if it’s gathered/bottled in a “dirty” way, just like any other foodstuff.

Personally, I’m not scared of raw milk and would love the chance to try some — from a trusted source, of course.

Aged raw milk cheese is legal in the US. (Parmesan reggiano is made from raw milk, for example.) In that case, anyway, yes, it’s better.

Fresher cheeses like brie have to be made with pasteurized milk to be legally sold in the US, though. Our friend Ernie Lundquist maintains that real, unpasteurized brie is a completely different thing from the pasteurized kind legally sold in the US.

And Ernie Lundquist is no dirty milk drinking hippy. This thing goes deeper than you think.

@alicetheowl: Raw milk cheese can be pretty good, but hard to come by and not really worth the price. You do run the risk of getting a mild case of the trots when you eat it. Basically, raw cheese is made from fresh, unpasteurized milk, so it has more “wild” mold and bacteria, as well as some additional enzymes, than cheese made from pasteurized milk. Part of the reason raw milk cheese is so expensive is because it’s imported as sort of a gray-market item. I don’t think technically it’s supposed to be imported, but specialty stores get it shipped in very small quantities (so it’s essentially under the radar) from Europe.

Raw milk cheese is the standard in Europe. Mozzaarella, gruyere, parmesan, romano… All of these “traditional” cheeses are best made with raw milk. Why isn’t it a health risk there? Maybe because they have stricter agricultural sanitation regulations?

It seems like the health risks of consuming raw milk cheese negligible, especially when compared to the other tainted food fiascos we have every year.

What about that big peanut butter recall? What about the the tainted lettuce at Taco Bell, or the PCB-tainted farmed salmon? How about the Oscar Meyer/Louis Rich chicken that was recalled in February? It seems to me that more people are poisoned by industrially-produced foods than by local, naturally-produced foods.

I did try a sample of raw milk swiss once, and it tasted somewhat saltier with a bit more of an undertone of flavors that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. It was tasty, but not quite worth it when I was just going to be slapping it onto a cracker.

I’ve seen the arguments for and against raw milk, and for the time being I’m sticking with the regular pasteurized stuff.

In addition to the FDA rules, some states, such as Georgia, also ban the sale of raw milk — even if it never crosses state lines and in some cases even if it isn’t intended for human consumption (gotta protect the kitties). Other states allow the sale of raw milk, but only on a very, very limited basis — only direct from the farm, in very limited quantities, etc. One way people who really want raw milk but don’t have their own farm have found to get around the laws is to own their own cow, or a “share” of a cow, that lives on someone else’s farm.

I get raw milk at the farmer’s market. I don’t think it’s any more dangerous than someone taking a crap on your green onions. At least I can ride my bike past the farm where the raw milk comes from and see what’s going on.

Growing up in a rural area, I was raised on farm-fresh milk. We actually made a weekly trip to my grandfather’s farm to get milk, sampling pasteurized milk only at school or on the rare occasions grandpa didn’t have enough milk from his cows. One of the happiest moments of my childhood was they day mom told me grandpa’s cows weren’t giving enough milk, so we’d have to start buying our milk all the time.
There’s just nothing worse than taking a swig of milk, only to find it wasn’t strained quite enough, so you swallow a large chunk of cream (or at least that’s what you tell yourself it was). Add to that that it was like drinking white motor oil, and, well, the “farm fresh” just really doesn’t have any appeal to me. If people want to drink it, by all means, let them. However, it’s not all that it’s cracked up to be by some of the organic poseurs out there.

Don’t know about raw milk, but young raw milk cheeses are standard fare in Europe and I don’t see them keeling over. Unfortunately I don’t see the day in the U.S. when people can freely decide to drink raw milk due, in part, to sites like this. As soon as anything goes wrong, even through pure luck, someone wants someone else to pay, and pay dearly. It really ruins it for the rest of us.

Having grown up in a small farming village in Europe, I only knew raw milk until I came to the US in 1995. And just like every European who lives in the US complains about the quality of bread, beer and cheese, I also bitch about the poor quality of milk. It’s not bad enough for me to try connect to the raw milk underground, but now that I know about it I may try to look for raw milk cheese, especially soft goat and sheep cheese.

@oldhat: There’s a difference between pasteurized and processed. Organic products can be pasteurized, your cancer mostly comes from processed things. All those icky additives and trans fats.

@CookiesEtc: Spinach? A lot of recalled things are “raw” products, like beef and leafy greens, that you cook yourself, or you don’t cook at all, or that cooking would mess up the quality. Things like eggs and milk can be pasteurized without much quality loss, hence the industry regulations.

How has the human race existed so long on unpasteurized things?
Didn’t our grandparents and those before us live on farms? Has it dawned on anyone that a person builds up an immunity to certain pathogens? What about the Mennonites or the Amish or many other cultures around the globe that consume raw dairy? If it was so harmful, would they continue to give it to their children. What’s happening to our food choices is more frightening. GMO seeds and GMO products as well as chemical additives for example. Why aren’t people jumping up and down about this?

@superlayne: A vaccine might be possible (there’s some characteristics of e. coli that make it a candidate for a vaccine, at least).

However, we wouldn’t need a vaccine for it if cows weren’t being factory farmed. I’m no granola-eater, but feedlot cattle are seriously ill almost all the time. E. coli can’t live in grass-fed cows’ rumens (which are fairly pH neutral) but it thrives in feedlot cattle’s rumens (which become acidic because of their corn/chicken bedding/blood/who-knows-what-else diet). I’m pretty sure it’s only a problem in “industrial” cattle. Add to that the fact that they have to have antibiotics all the time, and you can get some nasty bacteria that kick humans’ asses.

Isn’t it funny that we make the cows sick, then have to alter the milk that comes from the cows just to make it “safe” again. How about just not making the cows sick in the first place?

I grew up in a rural area and I love raw milk. I wish milk in the US tasted as good as it does in most other countries…

I could watch the Taco Bell rat footage all day but just reading this thread is making me feel puketastic. And the Dryheave award goes to Markwm’s post. And I quote “There’s just nothing worse than taking a swig of milk, only to find it wasn’t strained quite enough, so you swallow a large chunk of cream (or at least that’s what you tell yourself it was)” Congratulations Markwm and to all of this year’s contestants.

@superlayne: I think the point here is when you pasteurize something, there is quality loss.

Also, processing and pasteurizing may be ok with you but consider what that means. Omaha Steaks irradiates its ground beef. Why? Because during processing things like manure get in it. Irradiate it, people don’t get sick. In the end though, you’re still eating shit.

A little zen moment here, I’m watching Tony Bourdain’s No Reservations and it’s in New Jersey and he’s talking to a farmer who sells raw milk. Bobolink Dairy.

I, along with gwai lo, noticed that you can buy raw milk in CA natural food stores. I have done it, in fact. You notice on the package when you buy it that there is a huge disclaimer about the risk of unpasturized product. I have bought unpasturized apple juice in the same way (which is really, really good. pasturized juice can’t even compare).

Raw milk cheese in the US must be aged at least 60 days before it can be sold for consumption, which unfortunately means that a whole swath of cheese-types can’t be sold when made with raw milk.

I think the legality of raw milk and cheese is only symptomatic of the state of industry inspections in this country: they suck. The government would obviously rather have arbitrary laws governing what kinds of foods can be sold than spend the extra money and manpower required to ensure that more susceptible/delicate foods are processed in a sanitary manner. Lets only make the safe stuff (which isn’t necessarily that safe) instead of worrying about how clean everyone is working.

Okay, be serious now. 451 PEOPLE IN FIVE YEARS? DRYER LINT HAS SICKENED MORE PEOPLE!

Raw milk is NOT dangerous. We’ve only been drinking and eating it in huge quantities for a couple CENTURIES or so. Of course, raw milk has to stay at least somewhat FRESH, which is a problem when you industrialize all your farms and ship all your food a couple thousand miles from the source. Pasteurizing lets them ship your milk all over the place and still have it last for a week after you get it…what’s left of it, anyway.

Raw milk is quite definitely better for you than pasteurized. In fact, pasteurized milk really has no health benefits, other than some calcium, some vitamin D which they have to re-add after they boil it off through pasteurization, and fat, which is nice if you’re starving. Raw milk, on the other hand, you can damn near live on for its vitamin, trace-mineral, good-bacteria and complex protein content. (Hint: Baby cows DO live on it, just like baby people live on “raw” breast milk.)

I’m not saying everyone should drink raw milk. (Most people raised on boiled milk probably wouldn’t like it anyway; it’s quite thick, and tastes sorta like melted vanilla ice cream.) But I am saying, and have said before, that it’s STUPID for it to be illegal. The Dairy Industry likes it illegal, because it makes producing local milk by local farmers unprofitable, and takes away any competition they might have had from people preferring raw milk for its taste (kids freaking love it) and health benefits.

I was part of the “underground” for a little while, when I tried to get a “share” in a dairy cow kept locally so that I could have the milk for my daughter. It proved too difficult and expensive for me to pull off, though.

I agree with Mary Marsala with Fries. Consumers should have a choice in whether or not they buy ‘raw’ milk or pasteurized/processed milk. I would continue to buy my processed milk, but people like my mom would love to get raw milk. In fact, mom will not eat cereal unless she puts half and half on it, because, as she puts it, “it’s as close to real milk as you can get without actually getting real milk.”
If people had a choice in the matter, and were responsible in their choice, so that when someone occasionally got ill from buying unpasteurized milk, they wouldn’t rush to sue, I think everyone would be a lot better off.

Tom Bartlett, of minortweaks.com, wrote a similar article last September for the Washington Post. He’s a humor writer so it is some very amusing reading. In the end, he echos a previous comment that it’s an acquired taste and definitely make sure you know where it came from.

One of the original reasons for pasteurizing milk was not because the milk had manure in it, but because the shipping and stocking processes didn’t guarantee regulated temperatures. Warm milk goes bad faster than cold milk. And in many places (NYC specifically), children were dying because they were drinking spoiled milk that grocers were stocking because there wasn’t much in the way of standard regulations with regards to expiration dates or the temperatures at which dairy products should be stored.

Raw milk can be very dangerous to certian people. Even cheeses made from raw milk can be harmful.

While I’m sure there are healthy people who might weather a bacterial infection better than others, the very idea that raw milk is perfectly safe for everyone is JUST PLAIN WRONG.

In one very sad situation, a woman bought some homemade cheese made with raw milk, and brought it to a baby shower. Ten women at the shower were pregnant, and as a result of eating the cheese contaminated by Listeria, there were five stillbirths, three premature deliveries, and two infected newborns.

Our daughter was unable to thrive the amount of her mother’s or on commercial milk, and the doctor (a family friend, and unafraid of lawsuit) thought raw milk would be better for her. It was, and the baby thrived.

Everything in the food chain must be clean. The cow, the milker’s hands, and the containers used to gather and store the milk all need to be cleaned each milking. In our case, that meant relying on Grandpa.

But it does taste different from commercial milk. Kind of like a tomato fresh from the vine is different from the store tomato.

@dufus: That link contradicts itself. It blames the raw milk and then says the milk from the cows and farm were tested and found no listeria. From her link:

Various members of the Hispanic immigrant community made the Mexican-style fresh soft cheese from raw milk in their homes. Inspectors found unlabeled homemade cheese in all three of the small local Latino grocery stores they visited in Winston-Salem. In addition, many persons regularly sold the cheese in parking lots and by going door-to-door.

Again, like anything else, you have to shop smart. And you don’t buy cheese, paseurized or not from door-to-door salesman or some guy in a parking lot. This is unsanitary period. Nobody here is saying to make cheese from it in a bucket under your sink. Buy from farms and cheesemakers with good reputations.

Apparently you didn’t notice that they tested 49 milk cows looking for listeria infection. (That is, listeria that is present in the cow’s mammary gland.) That milk, no matter what else it touches, is already contaminated.

Finding none, they concluded that the infection was not from the cow, but rather environmental. It could easily have been the cow.

Don’t be fooled people, raw milk is dangerous. Anyone who would suggest otherwise should first have to attend the funerals of those 5 dead newborn babies.

Some people apparently need to be protected from themselves and the dumb decisions they make. That reason, above all others, is why we have our food safety laws.

Raw milk is the only milk I ever had. The piss poor excuse for milk that is here in US gives me the $#^&@.
The only reason the milk here in the states has to be pasteurized is because it’s easier then enforcing sanitary conditions at each milk farm. Throw some chemicals at it and it’s all good.

NCDA&CS conducted an investigation at a manufacturing grade dairy farm to determine the potential source of L. monocytogenes contamination. NCDA&CS collected milk samples from all 49 cows in the herd and samples from the bulk milk storage tanks. Milk from each cow was tested for somatic cell count to identify mastitic cows. Milk from each cow also was tested for presence of L. monocytogenes. Repeated testing did not identify any cow with milk confirmed positive for L. monocytogenes, suggesting that the cows were not infected and that L. monocytogenes may have originated from environmental contamination.

They tested the milk and found no contamination. So it could not have just as easily been the cow. Did you even read fully the article you posted?

And really, are you saying you’re the one who decides who the dumb people are?

YES! I DID read the article. Apparently you did, but did NOT understand it.

From the article:

L. monocytogenes isolates were obtained from nine patients, three cheese samples from two stores, one cheese sample from the home of a patient, and one raw milk sample from a manufacturing grade dairy. All 14 isolates had indistinguishable PFGE patterns, indicating a common link.

MEANING: They found listeria in a sample OF RAW MILK! From a DAIRY!

They tested the COWS because it’s LIKELY that the cows were the source of contamination. Why would they do it if it weren’t possible?

Nonetheless they found the raw milk sold by the producer was contaminated. It was the most likely source of the outbreak.

Face it, it’s dangerous to drink raw milk. We share this planet with harmful pathogens, and those pathogens don’t care at all about whether or not a dairy is “reputable”.

@superlayne: Taste, that’s why. My favorite unpasteurized OJ is now cooked after an apple juice scare, and nit tastes awful. I would take the risk if I could get my hands on the ‘original’ formula, so I can empathize with the milk drinkers.

We have this bizarre vicious cycle going on- we industrialize food production, which increases risk, so we take measures to reduce the risk which affect quality, and then we start punishing people who try to bypass the industrial system. So everything still tastes like shit, people still get poisoned, and we throw Amish farmers in prison because megacorp can’t be bothered with sanitation.

dufus:
Equating milk to hamburger and chicken to prove it needs to be “cooked” is really bizarre. Pasteurizing a liquid and cooking meat are two totally different things. Depending on how/where it’s grown, it’s also not safe to eat raw spinach as we recently saw. Maybe we should regulate that spinach can now only be sold if it’s been cooked at a minimum temperature of X degrees for Y minutes.

Hell, I’m amazed that chicken, beef, and pork are even sold uncooked! Gasp, won’t someone think of the children? The FDA should only allow cooked meat to be sold…

We cook foods (like meats) to certain temperatures to ensure that bacteria have been killed. It’s the same thing we do to milk when it’s pasteurized, and for exactly the same reason. Why do you find this bizarre?

They’re both animal products, and both have to be heated to ensure they’re safe to consume.

Cooking things just before they’re consumed is the best way to ensure you destroy harmful pathogens that are introduced in the food distribution chain. Selling foods uncooked is perfectly safe as long as they’re cooked before you eat them.

However, milk isn’t one of those things. No one has a milk pasteurizer sitting on their kitchen counter.

It’s also in the best interest of the consumer, as pasteurization has the added benefit of extending shelf life, making the product less susceptible to spoilage.

If the milk shipped today would spoil in 3 or 4 days, prices for milk would skyrocket.

@dufus: I read and understood it. They said they had a contaminated sample from a dairy. Then they tested at the dairy and found nothing. And again, the report states they tested the milk from the cows and from the holding tanks, not the cows. They actually ruled out the cows.

If other people want to drink their gross milk, so be it. I see no reason not to stop them. Perhaps some sort of waiver process so they know they could be giving themselves the plague? But it’s a waste of time and resources to try to stop them.

@notallcompaniesarebad: Good point. There’s also meat on the market graded specifically for such dishes. It’s at a premium, but you know it’s safe. The FDA should allow that, perhaps with some sort of certification. Yes, it will cost more, but it will also let us have unpasteurized cheese, finally letting me try a real brie or traditional mozzarella (I know, I’ll have to hunt down water buffalo’s milk).

gwai lo & jackdangers, one thing they mentioned in the article is that California’s standards for raw milk intended for sale are the same as for pasteurized milk, so raw milk you find at your local grocer is as safe as the pasteurized stuff. In fact, California’s rules are actually stricter than the FDA’s, which allows for 25% more bacteria contamination. So the raw milk you can buy there is actually safer than the pasteurized stuff I have in my fridge right now.

I’m reading a lot about “dirty milk” from fellow posters. You want to know why milk is pasteurized to begin with? Because it’s extremely dirty. The dairy cows are crammed into stalls, not allowed to move much at all and the rBGH they give them to overproduce causes mastitis (infection) and bloody milk. No thank you. I’ll take the raw milk we get from a local family any day. It’s delicious and full of the enzymes that occur naturally in milk to help us mere humans digest milk from an animal far larger than us. I gave some to a friend the other day and it was the first time in years that she could drink milk and not get nausea and cramping.

The FDA is worried about the natural bacteria in raw milk that is good for you. Yet, they allow the bottling and sale of milk that has been made from cows that were give antibiotics (to keep them healthy), eaten grains that were sprayed with pesticide and herbicides, and fertilizers. Pasteurization destroys the enzymes that make it possible to digest milk. I’d rather take my chances with raw milk. It’s more digestable, contains no antibiotics or chemicals and is healthier for you. If you like pasteurized milk you may as well pour a handful of dirt from your lawn in your water, mix in some dry milk and drink that.

We have a farm nearby that sells raw milk “for pet consumption only”. My wife and I bought some to try – I liked it, but later read an article on another website about how much pus and blood is in raw milk. I guess this stuff is in pasteurized milk too, but somehow seems less gross since it’s been treated.

Sign the petition to legalize raw milk. Support the consumer’s right to choose what they buy. Big dairy farms want to prevent small farmers from stealing their business. By supporting raw milk legalization you are supporting small farmers. Rather than making less than $1.50/gallon for hormone-laden milk that’s transported off to be pasteurized, they make $7-8/gallon for raw milk. Plus raw milk is a lot more nutritious than pasteurized milk. It tastes better, too!

By the way, raw milk tastes incredible! And it has all sorts of nutrients that are killed during pasteurization including CLA, omega 3s, absorbable calcium, vitamin C and good bacteria. The fda is constantly attacking raw milk because of pressure from big dairy who want to shut small farmers down.